Re-Roofing in Taranaki

When a Roof Has Done Its Time

A lot of Taranaki's housing went up in the 1960s and 70s, and a lot of those roofs have never been replaced. Fifty or sixty years of rain, wind and, on the coast, salt will finish any roof eventually. The signs are usually the same: rust bleeding out from around the nail heads, coating that has chalked and lifted, sheets that have thinned to the point where a boot goes through them, and a stain on a ceiling that has nothing obviously above it.

A re-roof is the most common job we do. It is also the one where the difference between a good roofer and a poor one is easiest to see - not in the new roof, which looks fine either way on day one, but in what is underneath it, how the house was kept dry while it was open, and what state the property was left in.

How a Re-Roof Runs

1. Inspection and quote

   We get up on the roof and look at it properly: the sheets, the flashings, the spouting, the penetrations, and what we can see of the timber. Then you get a written, itemised quote naming the product and the colour.

2. Material ordered, dates agreed

   Longrun rolled to the exact length of your runs. We give you a start date and a finish date, and we keep to them.

3. Scaffold and edge protection up

   Not optional and not skipped on a single storey. It is how the job gets done safely and how it gets done neatly.

4. Stripped in sections, closed in each day

   We take off only as much as we can close in the same day, so your house is never left open overnight. Any rotten purlin or damaged timber is replaced before the new roof goes on, and we show you what we found.

5. New roof, flashings and spouting

   New underlay, new sheets, new flashings and ridging. Old spouting is usually at the end of its life too, and this is the cheapest moment to replace it.

6. Clean up and walk around

   All old material taken away, the lawn and gardens checked for stray fixings, and a walk around with you at the end so you can see what has been done.

Repair, or Replace?

Not every tired roof needs replacing. If the sheets themselves are sound and the problem is one flashing, a few fixings or a single damaged area, a repair is the right answer and we will say so - even though a re-roof would be worth a great deal more to us. Replace it when the coating has failed across the whole roof, when the fixings are letting go in more than one place, or when you are spending money on it every year.

The one thing not to do is wait. A small leak that has been running into the ceiling space for two winters costs far more in timber, insulation and plaster than the re-roof it was putting off.

Re-Roofing on the Coast

If your house is at Ōakura, Ōpunake, Waitara or anywhere within a few hundred metres of breaking surf, the specification changes. Salt works hardest on the fixings, the cut edges and the flashings, so those are where the money goes: a substrate and coating rated for a marine environment, and fixings to match. It adds a little to the price. It adds a great deal to how long the roof lasts.

Building new instead? or re-roofing a workshop or shed.